#memory
Ignatius Loyola.
31 July is St. Ignatius of Loyola Day.
He is the founder of the Society of Jesus (SJ), popularly called Jesuits. His first desciple, St. Francis Xavier, travelled to India and South East Asia as a missionary, and was responsible for the spread of the second wave of Christianity in India.
Jesuits are well known for their reputed educational institutions. Loyola and St. Xavier’s colleges and schools across the country have produced some of the most illustrious persons. XLRI Jamshedpur is the first and one of the best management institutes in the country.
I consider myself fortunate to have been educated in a Jesuit school at Kanjirapally, as also my brothers. My sisters did their MA at Loyola College Thiruvananthapuram and my daughter did her MBA at XIM Bhubaneswar.
St Joseph’s College Tiruchirapalli and Loyola College Madras and St Joseph’s College Bangalore were the choices for generations of Syrian Catholics before colleges were established in Kerala. There were a few adventurous young men who went to St Xavier’s Bombay and St Xavier’s Calcutta.
The Loyola and Xavier Institutions have all proved themselves to be the best among the best. Many of them are deemed to be Universities.Now a Xavier University has been established at Bhubaneswar.
I owe what I am to the great Jesuit fathers who taught and guided me in my student days.
The Catholics worldwide are happy and proud that Pope Francis is also a Jesuit.
– Joy Kallivayalil.
